A Thousand Cranes
by FMB5ever
Summary: He was friends with a girl who knew her destiny, but wanted to change it. She was a girl who dreamed of the impossible, but still came after it. "I'm sorry Sadako-chan," he whispered. Arms wrapped around his waist and his eyes widened. That smiled that brightened his life disappeared as quickly as it came in wisps of imagination. A whisper was heard, "I forgive you."
1. Chapter 1

A Thousand Cranes

A man with black hair and brown eyes stared at the girl with the smile upon her face. The girl was pale with dark bags under her eyes, black hair that fell contrast to her almost white skin, and frail, thin fingers that itched to touch something warm again. The only thing that seemed out of place was that unusually cheerful smile that never seemed to falter. She seemed content as she began folding a piece of paper which she found lying upon her bed side, perfectly crisp and white, the color of purity.

_It's not fair_

It took her only a minute to finish the folding until as if magic; it was not a piece of paper but a work of art, an origami crane. She smiled at it and placed it near her, next to a larger more impressive golden one, murmuring, "Number 643, I'm almost there." Then she began to look around the room for anything else she could get her frail fingers on, making sure she didn't trip when she got out of her bed like last time. She stood up, up using the bed to support her body. She began to walk slowly to the door when she saw the man with brown eyes. "Kiku-san!"

_She didn't deserve this_

"Oh, h-hello Sadako-chan," he said with a smile, mentally flinching at her state. "How are the cranes?"

Sadako grinned. "Only 357 to go. Leave it to me sir." She walked past him, not before looking back and saying, "I will fold a thousand paper cranes and make a wish for everyone to get better." Then she trekked along the halls asking for paper with that same smile upon her face.

Japan stared at her, a tear began to roll. She was something so innocent. Something so naïve. Something so young. Something he hasn't seen a long time.

_It's all my fault_

* * *

"I'm sorry sir, the little girl… she had passed away," a man with a white coat said to him. Japan looked at him with seemingly no emotion upon his face. Japan turned, though his face may have looked emotionless, he felt his eyes betray what he was supposed to feel. Nothing. Death was common. People die every day. And in this time, death was an event as common as blinking or taking breath. So why did this one make him feel like he lost everything he stood for? "Um sir," the man with the white coat said again. Japan looked back.

_I feel so helpless_

"Hai?" he asked. The man whisked something that seemed to blend with the coat. In his hands was a white crane, perfectly folded without a single crease.

"The girl… She wanted you to have this," the man finished in a low voice. He walked up to Japan and placed it in his hands. "Please take care of this. It seemed she wanted you to have it at its best condition." Then he strode away.

_But why did she keep going?_

Japan stared at the crane. He saw something dark in one of the wings, lines that were to portray something. He began to unfold it carefully. In it was a letter.

_Dear Kiku-san,_

_Arigatou for the paper! I saw you put it on my bedside while I was lying down. It was funny when I saw you trying to creep inside. Do you remember when you asked me why I always smile? I smile because it gives me hope. It gives others hope as well. So I want to make everyone hopeful that we will get through this. And once I make a thousand cranes, everyone will be happy again. But what I also want to say is… Thank you for being there with me. I sometimes feel sad because I wonder what will happen to me in the future, but when you come, it is like the sun is finally shining upon me after staring at a cloudy grey sky. You are my light and hope that will guide me through the darkest times. Arigatou, Kiku-san._

_Love,_

_Sasaki Sadako_

As if he was robot, Japan began folding the paper back into the crane state he found it in. A dark feeling began to ris up in his chest and in his heart and he wanted to do nothing but cry in his sleep. He was forlorn. He was devastated. He walked into the room where she occupied. The cranes were still there, but she wasn't. Japan sat on her bed, his fingers were gripping the crane tightly. "I'm sorry Sadako-chan..." he whispered almost inaudibly. He felt arms wrap around his body. His eyes widened and turned around. That smile that brightened his dark days was ever present and disappeared just as quickly as it came in wisps of his imagination. But he heard something that he knew wasn't his imagination.

_"I forgive you... Kiku-kun."_

A stifled gasp filled the empty room as Japan tried to recollect what had happened. He looked at the crane in his hand, now slight wrinkled on the wings. His eyes widened as he turned the side over. A message was scrawled on it. It was a wish he realized. A wish that she wanted to come true.

* * *

The next day, Japan and the bamboo class were handing out flyers to teach and remember the courage of the girl and the thousand paper cranes. Japan smiled slightly at the woman who took the flyer from his hands. He wanted people to know how war could destroy the innocent, the naive. And how they can fix it now, so the future will not have to face the same fate. On the flyer were the words Japan found on the crane she made. The wish that she wanted to come true before anyone else gets hurt.

_"This is our cry. This is our prayer. For building peace in the world."_


	2. Chapter 2

A White Crane

Japan walked into the hospital with weak spirits. It was ten years after the bombs fell, but the pain was ever present. It wasn't just because he himself was hurt. It was a sharp pain in his heart and stomach when he began to command troops to dispatch and fell on the floor. His brown eyes widened as he saw the large mushroom cloud loom over head until the blood became pouring out and the darkness swooped in. But because he wasn't able to protect his people. Innocent lives that didn't deserve to die. Japan knew he was fighting the wrong side, the side that already killed millions under the rule of one man who wanted to conquer the world. But did it really come that the Allies were willing to hurt civilians... Just to prove that what the Axis was doing was wrong?

The hospital smelled herbal but with hints of medicine and x-rays. Japan knew why this hospital was created. It was to take care of the ones who were infected with leukemia, the atom bomb's disease. It was as if God was playing a cruel joke on him. Not only did he get to see thousands of his people die in an instant, but he was able to see them slowly suffer in a cancer that can almost never be cured. He continued walking down the hall, not bothering to stare at patients getting helped out of beds or nurses shuffling for goods or people just upon the verge of death in dying gasps. He stopped, not knowing why he did, and turned at the room adjacent to him. The door was left ajar so he could who had occupied the room.

...It was a girl. A girl with pale skin, dark bags, and black hair. She looked exhausted from crying and from treatment. 'A patient...' he thought. A patient of the atom bomb's disease. Was life so cruel that even a little girl had to suffer? Japan shook his head and took a step until he saw what was on the ceiling on her face, and in her hands. Upon the ceiling, birds were hanging from strings that seemed to be frozen in flight. All varied in size, shape, and color but he knew what they were, cranes. On her face was the largest and most optimistic smile he'd ever seen. A smile filled with hope for the sunshine of a new day. And in her hands was a light blue crane that she must have made. That crane must have been the thing to have triggered her smile as there was nothing else in her room that could make her happy. Well, other than the few hundred cranes already looking over her head.

He didn't know why but he walked in the room with timid steps. The girl looked up at him with large brown eyes, the light blue crane still in her hands. "Oh, ah I apologize," Japan said quickly, "but I couldn't help but marvel your cranes. They are very beautiful."

A smile began to open and create words, "It's okay. I like the birds too, they give me hope."

Hope... A feeling Japan hasn't felt in a very long time. "Um... But why did you make all of these birds?"

"Didn't you hear the story?" the girl acquired, "My friend Chizuko told me about the legend of the Thousand Paper Cranes. It says that whenever someone makes a thousand cranes, God will give them a wish to make them healthy once again. So I'm going to make a thousand cranes and make a wish to get everyone better." She tilted her head. "Would you like to help me? If you don't know how to, I can teach you."

A strange feeling came into his gut as Japan walked slowly next to her bedside, pulling up a chair. "Oh no, I already known how to."

A grin came on her face. "That's perfect. I don't really like people who are slow... Turtles." She handed him a piece of paper. "Wait, what's your name? I can't have someone help me without knowing their name first."

A small smile started to crack his usually gloomy face. "My name is Honda Kiku. What's your name?"

"Sasaki Sadako," she said with pride.

"Then here Sadako-chan." Japan took his creation and placed it in the girl's hand with a small smile. "I'm guessing this will be your..."

"349 crane!" she chorused joyfully, putting them crane next to her bedside. The crane this time was white. A color of innocence, purity, and hope. A color that has been tainted red with the blood of thousands.

_The color of a renewed life._

* * *

_Years later…_

Japan stared at the statue in front of him. There was a girl standing upon a pedestal, arms stretched as if she was reaching for the sun. A golden crane was poised in her hands and a concrete smile was on her face that brought optimism and hope to anyone who stared at it long enough. He kneeled in front of the statue, placing a white crane in front of it murmuring the words of her wish that were engraved in stone.

_"This is our cry. This is our prayer. For Building peace in the world."_

An added message came after this, words that he should have said to the young girl that gave him the light to move on.

_"Arigatou, Sadako-chan. You are my light."_

_I'm sorry for causing you pain… Please forgive me._

Skinny arms engulfed him and in surprise he jumped up and turned around. In front of him was a young girl about twelve or eleven years old. Brown eyes, pale skin, with long black hair; she reminded him of a friend he's known long ago. "Hinata-chan! Please do not run into strangers!" a voice was heard. A grin was set on her face.

"Sorry mister. I just wanted to see the statue. It's very pretty. I hope I hadn't hurt you too bad, mom will be very displeased with me," she said, kneeling down and also placing a white crane next to his. "What's your name? My name is Fuiki Hinata, nice to meet you!"

Japan seemed at awe with her. _Fortunate... Place in the sun._

_My sunshine has come back to me_

"M-my name is Honda Kiku. It is okay, I was in the way after all." A light began to creep into his heart until the warmth of it made Japan realize that perhaps France was right. 'Perhaps they do live a happier life when they are reborn.'

Hinata seemed at ease even more. "It's alright, I forgive you." These were the words that made Japan feel like a weight has been lifted off of his shoulders.

Because he knew he had found his sunshine again at last.


End file.
